Peasant Livelihoods in Times of Covid-19: A Classical Agrarian and Political Economy Perspective

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has had unprecedented global impact, creating multiple crises that have gone beyond the epidemiological, extending to the socio-economic and political. It has exposed structural flaws in global capitalism and intensified inequalities that have traditionally been imbedded in relations of production and social reproduction. In emerging Covid-19 literature, blind spots exist on its impact on peasant households. It is this knowledge gap that this article fills. Focusing on an agrarian context in rural Zimbabwe, the article employs a classical agrarian perspective and the political economy approach as conceptual and heuristic tools to explore the impact which this novel virus has had on rural livelihoods. It shows that the pandemic has impacted agricultural production, social reproduction, labour relations and asset accumulation. While its impact has been largely negative, opportunities were created with peasant agency being critical in dealing with shocks and vulnerabilities.

Land-Based Livelihoods and the Covid-19 Challenge: Navigating the Social Capital-Social Distancing Tension on A1 Villages in Zimbabwe

“…Tom (2021) echoes that local markets for small-scale farmers in Mt Darwin were functioning during the hard lockdown period although main business centres were temporarily unreachable. In Goromonzi District and surrounding areas, small-scale farmers during this period relied on middlemen who would purchase their produce at low prices to resell in urban centres for large profits (Chipenda 2022). Findings of a study of selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, on the contrary, reports different effects of Covid-19 restrictions to markets for beans such as disruption of cross-border trade, breakdown of supply chains, reduction in bean sales because of closure of markets (Nchanji & Lutomia 2021).…”

“…Evidence from other studies of small-scale farmers in Zimbabwe supports this view. Tom (2021) and Chipenda (2022) stress that although there were other forms of disruption in agricultural processes of small-scale farmers in Mt Darwin and Goromonzi Districts during the Covid-19 restrictions, farmers continued to access arable plots. It is argued that farmers also continued utilising communal grazing land and that observing social distancing was difficult because land is shared (Chipenda, 2022;Tom, 2021).…”

“…Tom (2021) and Chipenda (2022) stress that although there were other forms of disruption in agricultural processes of small-scale farmers in Mt Darwin and Goromonzi Districts during the Covid-19 restrictions, farmers continued to access arable plots. It is argued that farmers also continued utilising communal grazing land and that observing social distancing was difficult because land is shared (Chipenda, 2022;Tom, 2021). While these studies do not focus on social capital and its interface with social distancing in an in-depth manner, this article deduces that most of these agricultural processes were centered around social capital.…”

“…In Zimbabwe there have been a few studies undertaken to examine how the Covid-19 restrictions enforced by the state affected agricultural value chains (Rukasha et al, 2021;Shonhe, 2021). Other studies discuss temporary and differentiated disruption of agricultural processes, livelihoods, marketing of agricultural produce by Covid-19 regulations, and coping mechanisms adopted by small-scale farmers during the period of the pandemic (Chipenda, 2022;Rusere, 2021;Tom, 2021). So far there has been little attention given to understanding how the restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the pandemic influenced social cohesion in small-scale farms.…”

Inside Zambia's ‘new normal:’ COVID‐19 policy responses and implications for peri‐urban food security and livelihoods

“…Similar reports reveal COVID‐19 impacts on informal workers (Njeri, 2020); food insecurity and unemployment (Mekonnen & Amede, 2022); on consumption poverty in Mozambique (Barletta et al, 2021); remittances and livelihoods in Burkina Faso (Tapsoba, 2021); and how the pandemic amplifies health, and urban inequalities (Okoia & Bwawa, 2020; Turok & Visagie, 2021), and food security and welfare (Nechifor et al, 2021). Meanwhile, a recent study by Chipenda (2022) reveals negative rural pandemic impacts on agriculture production, social relations and asset accumulation, but that there are opportunities alongside peasant agency in dealing with shocks. A similar study by Nalwimba (2021) in Zambia argues policy restrictions privileged large formal retailers whilst undermining informal rural small‐scale players, with others exploring resilience of SMEs (Nan & Park, 2021).…”